A plan proposed by TTC staff to go ahead with funding a pilot project that would have seen platform-edge safety doors installed at TMU (Dundas) station has been put on hold pending further discussion by board members.

TTC board members voted to continue a process of prioritizing and determining the extent of future station installations as well as to require platform-edge doors (PEDs) at all new, future stations.

The issue of funding a pilot project at TMU station, where staff said there are a large number of pedestrian “intrusions” and concerns of overcrowding, will now be reviewed by a sub-committee weighing funding priorities as part of the 2026 budget process.

A report received by the board, which included a business case and feasibility study for retrofitting 74 sets of platforms at 70 subway stations on Lines 1, 2 and 4 with full-height platform-edge doors (PEDs), said the potential cost spread out over multiple decades could reach $4.1 billion if adopted system-wide. It estimated the average cost to be $44 million to $55 million for every set of two platforms.  However, other safety systems could mean lower costs per station.

During Monday afternoon’s meeting, the board heard from residents who urged commissioners to proceed with the pilot project installation and to support the concept overall.

TTC passenger Nicholas Christou was among the residents who addressed the board on the issue. He described an instance where he said he had to help someone get off the tracks after jumping down to cross after realizing they were on the wrong side of the station.

“He had become stuck and couldn’t climb up to get to the platform level. Without thinking, I immediately offered him a hand and I pulled him up from the tracks and back onto the platform. There were two minutes until the next train,” Christou recalled, noting there weren’t any staff around to help at the time.

“After he left, I was thinking about what could have happened: I could have lost my grip, or slipped and we both could have fallen and who knows what could have happened.”

He said the TTC needs to do more to prevent injuries, adding “the urgency will only continue to grow.”

Rebeena Subadar, a TTC passenger and a member of the non-profit advocacy group TTCriders, called the PED pilot project at TMU station a “brilliant idea” since “normal infrastructure” doesn’t fully protect commuters.

“It doesn’t need to be rush hour for chaos to happen and for space to feel incredibly limited,” she told the board while referencing when service disruptions happen and the station platform gets crowded.

“To finally leave the station means I have to walk on a yellow strip since it’s the only walking space available. At that point, if a train is coming, I’m a pinky’s length away from it. But at all times, I have to calculate where I stand … if I face the tracks, I’m vulnerable to being pushed or losing my balance.”

While many on the board expressed support for the concept of PEDs and/or other safety systems, several concerns were brought up about how to pay for the improvements at a time when the transit agency needs to still pay for various accessibility upgrades and to invest in new vehicles. There was also a push to get more detailed information not included in the report.

“I fear we’re looking at this in isolation … I think we need to be realistic about the chances we’re going to find this money,” board member Julie Osborne said, adding the incoming CEO Mandeep Lali should have a chance to develop a strategy.

“I would urge us to take a pill for a little bit of time. Allow the CEO and his team to do the work.”

Coun. Josh Matlow, who serves on the board, said he was supportive of proceeding with a pilot project and didn’t favour referring the matter to a sub-committee.

“I don’t want this to be studied into non-existence, and I fear that’s where we’re going.”

TTC chair Jamaal Myers said further work was needed, including the potential of using different systems at different stations depending on exact need — something that could lower the current projected cost using full-height PEDs. He proposed the motion referring funding for the pilot project to the sub-committee. However, Myers stressed the need for direction on PEDs overall.

“We’ve been studying this for now 20 years. We just need to make a decision one way or the other if we’re going to get ahead with it,” he said.

The potential higher-end, $4.1-billion cost of the project soared from a $1.23-billion estimate floated a few years ago.

However, despite the inflated costs, a business case identified multiple cost-saving benefits. The report said up to $127.8 million annually could be saved through avoiding $92 million in “social cost(s)” by avoiding injuries and loss of life, $16 million in reduced passenger delays, $19 million in emergency response cost savings and $800,000 worth of employee health improvements by reducing insurance claims.

During Monday’s meeting, TTC staff said there were nearly 220 instances of people going onto subway tracks to date in 2025.

If funding is secured over a 20-year period with construction happening during off-peak hours beginning in 2026, the report said the total benefits would outweigh the total costs by 2062 (14 years after a full build-out would be done).

The main report said the entire system of PEDs will have a life-cycle cost of $2.2 to $2.4 billion. The business case said major rehabilitation for each set of PEDs will likely be required at the 30-year mark, and it will take a further $18 million (in 2023 dollars) annually starting in 2056 to extend the operational life.

The report found full-height PEDs scored the highest out of four different methods using criteria such as safety, cost, installation complexity, operational impacts, experiences on other systems and flexibility for future upgrades. Partial-height PEDS came second, followed by a sensor-based subway track intrusion system in third place, and rope-based platform screen doors coming last.

Staff said there isn’t a “one-size-fits-all” approach and having a standard template since there are different station configurations and usage dynamics.

“The implementation of PEDs at existing stations will require extensive planning, with the majority of the work taking place at track level during non-operating hours and will need to be implemented alongside ongoing state-of-good-repair work in subway tunnels and stations,” the report said.

“Extensive subway station closures and station bypasses will be necessary to effectively complete track-related work for the PED system and to minimize the challenges.”

Ever since 2009, the issue of PEDs have been on the radar for study and building. A major push for adding PEDs to stations stems from concerns about suicide prevention, stopping people from being pushed or falling onto the track as well as a way to prevent mischief from happening and stopping debris from the platform level.

After a woman was pushed onto the tracks at a TTC subway station in 2022, it renewed calls for installing safety measures. A short time later in the same year, a man died after allegedly being pushed off the platform at Bloor station.